Advertising is legalized lying. – H.G. Wells

Monkeymanx — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 13:54:11 +0000

From the Why the Fuck would you invent this department…
Philips device could force TV viewers to watch ads
“An invention from Royal Philips Electronics prevents TV viewers from switching the channel during commercials or fast-forwarding past commercials when watching DVR content.
Viewers would be released from the freeze only after paying a fee to the broadcaster. The freeze would be implemented on a program-by-program basis, giving viewers a choice at the start of each one. “

I would ask “why?!” but I already know the answer to that question. Money. This will just be another way for the cable company to screw you. Not being able to change channels or fast forward? That is fucked up! This bad idea ranks up there with pay toilets. Even if its only 25 cents to be able to skip commercials, that’s ridiculous! Knowing the cable companies, it will most likely be 99 cents to “unlock” ads in a TV show. Yes, its supposed to be a per show basis. How fucked up would that be? Just before a show starts you get a message asking you if you want to pay to unlock ads. If you say yes, you use your TV how you want, but if you say no, you can’t change channels during ads. I wonder can you change channels during the actual show? I know that this would piss a lot of people off. For example, Candy will watch at least two shows at once. Switching back and forth and keeping both shows going at once. (Personally I have a hard time letting one show rot my brain, much less two or three at once. )
So lets hope that this thing never sees the light of day. Yeah right! I’m sure the cable companies want to start sneaking this thing into the HD DVR set top boxes so they can toss out the lube and screw you till they are blue in the face.

[Listening to: The Shortest Straw - Metallica - ...And Justice for All (06:45)]

Lost: Like watching a plane wreck

Monkeymanx — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 12:05:09 +0000

Candy and I have started to watch Lost season one on DVD. We both seem to have the same opinion about it. We don’t really like it, but are giving the show a little bit of latitude, we both agree that it’s “like watching a train wreck” we don’t like it, but can’t look away. So far we have watched nine episodes and neither of us are “hooked”. Having been told to watch the show closely, I wonder if we are watching too closely… For example we have spotted a few flubs. We noticed that a few characters’ scars miraculously disappeared in a few days time. Locke can walk, but didn’t have to go through any physical therapy regimen to rebuild his atrophied legs. If he couldn’t move them for four years, I doubt he would just stand up and walk. We both noticed that the same couple walked past in the background two times in successive shots. But I digress…

With forty some odd people on this island, only about 10 are prominent in the show. With the way the plane broke up, it’s amazing that that many people survived. I haven’t looked into it, and did not notice if it had been mentioned, but the plane they crashed on appeared to have 2 engines, probably a 737. A 737 has a maximum passenger capacity of 189. Add in ten flight crew and that’s near 200 people. Roughly a quarter of the passengers survived the plane crash. That is pretty amazing, considering the way the plane broke up, in the air. Supposedly the tail came off in flight, and the cockpit broke off as well, also apparently in flight. The plane would have to have been crashing already, or dangerously low to the ground and travelling at a slow speed for all the three pieces to have landed on the same island. This island must be huge. Maybe that is covered in subsequent episodes, I dunno. It just seems a little too far fetched. Those are some of the things that are bugging me.
What bugs Candy is the “supernatural” elements. The “monster” in the jungle to Candy is just cheesy. I have to agree, the shaking and knocking down of trees, the mechanical sounds it makes… cheesy.
Maybe all this stuff gets explained, but I don’t know if we will stick it out long enough.
The only thing that we like are two of the characters Locke and Sawyer.
Anyway… Lost might be lost on us. I think we might give it a few more episodes, but I doubt if we’ll make it much further. A lot of people we have heard talk about the show were “hooked” after the first show. We however were not.
I guess time will tell…

[Listening to: Lost Again - Suicidal Tendencies - Lights... Camera... Revolution! (05:16)]

Disjointed Digression » TV

Advertising is legalized lying. – H.G. Wells

Lost: Like watching a plane wreck